Occupational safety for education and training
At education providers, the seminar rooms are filled differently every week. Lecturers work on a fee basis, some participants are sent by another business, and courses also run in the evenings and at weekends. For occupational safety, the first question is therefore who counts as one of your own employees and through whom everyone else is insured. Support hours, emergency arrangements and safety training all depend on the answer.
- Education & training
People who do not know the building: the situation at education providers
A seminar centre has people in it every day who do not know the building. Each course brings new participants who have never seen the escape routes or the assembly point and still have to get out quickly in an emergency. Emergency arrangements are therefore planned around the number of people present. Support under DGUV Regulation 2, by contrast, is based on the number of employees.
Who counts as an employee is less clear-cut at an education provider than in most offices. Freelance lecturers have no employment relationship and are not insured through the institution. According to the VBG's sector guide for educational institutions, they are nevertheless employees under the Occupational Health and Safety Act if they are integrated into the organisation in a way similar to employees. In that case they belong in the risk assessment and the safety training.
For participants, it depends on who sends them. If another business sends them, for example as part of a joint training scheme, or a rehabilitation provider does, they remain insured through that body. The institution still has occupational safety duties towards them. According to the VBG's guide, it agrees in writing with the sending business or the rehabilitation provider how those duties are carried out. Freelance lecturers and participants alike have to be included in the planning for first aiders, fire wardens and evacuation.
Education providers at a glance: accident insurance, classification, thresholds
| Item | Education provider |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance institution | VBG for private educational institutions, language, music and dance schools, and adult education centres run under private law. Providers training for health and social care professions: BGW. Institutions run by a municipality: usually the Unfallkasse or the municipal accident insurance association. The membership notice is binding. |
| Economic sector | Usually WZ 85.5 (other education) |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | III (Annex 2 in the VBG's version). Above 20 employees: 0.5 hours of basic support per employee and year, shared between the specialist and the occupational physician, with at least 20 per cent on each side |
| Freelance lecturers | No employment relationship and not insured through the provider. If integrated like employees, they count as employees under the Occupational Health and Safety Act |
| Participants sent by another business | Remain insured through the sending business or the rehabilitation provider |
| From the first employee | Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician |
| Up to 20 employees | Annex 1 of DGUV Regulation 2 with no fixed support hours |
| Above 20 employees | Occupational safety committee, meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG) |
| Up to 50 employees | Unternehmermodell permitted as an alternative. More than 50: standard support |
According to the VBG, the employees who count under DGUV Regulation 2 at an educational institution are its own staff and the participants in programmes under the Vocational Training Act. Participants are counted as the average number present at any one time. Participants in private language, music or dance lessons do not count. Part-time staff count proportionally towards the threshold of 20: up to 20 hours a week as 0.5, up to 30 as 0.75.
What an education provider's risk assessment has to cover
- Escape routes for people unfamiliar with the building. The width, signing and clearance of escape routes follow the number of people actually in the building, not the number of employees. With changing occupancy the worst case is what counts.
- Seating and room layouts. Seminar rooms are rearranged regularly. Every rearrangement changes escape route widths and clear areas, and that is exactly what a one-off assessment misses.
- First aid based on people present. The required number of first aiders follows the people present at the same time. Counting only employees comes out too low on busy seminar days.
- Presentation equipment and voice strain. Projectors, cabling and mobile equipment in seminar rooms are both an electrical and a trip hazard. Speaking continuously for hours is a strain that should appear in the assessment.
For vocational training institutions, the VBG bases the number of first aiders on the employees and insured participants present. It recommends training everyone directly involved in delivering courses as first aiders, and participants only if the number cannot be reached otherwise and they spend at least twelve months at the institution. The general rules are set out in Number of fire wardens and first aiders.
Typical findings when walking through a seminar centre
The findings are almost always the same three: chairs and tables left in the escape route after the last rearrangement; extension leads running across the seminar room to the projector; and first-aid supplies kept only in the administrative wing, even though most people are in the seminar area. On top of that there is often an assessment that only knows the office workstations.
Safety training at an education provider: staff and participants
Alongside training for employees, a short standardised safety briefing for participants at the start of every event is needed: escape routes, assembly point, who the first aiders are. That is not training within the meaning of section 12 ArbSchG, but it is the point on which an evacuation works or fails. For employees, rearranging rooms and operating the presentation equipment are added.
When courses run in the evening or at weekends, someone who can give first aid and tackle a fire in its early stages still has to be in the building. The VBG's guide requires a fire warden to be present at all times, so the course timetable should show who covers which session.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: What support covers and how the hours follow from your headcount.
- Fire safety helper calculator: How many fire wardens your seminar centre needs.
- Fire safety in the office: Extinguishers, escape routes and fire wardens: the duties at a glance.
- Test-interval calculator (DGUV Regulation 3): Test intervals for projectors, laptops and extension leads in the seminar rooms.
- Young workers, apprentices and interns in the office: What applies to apprentices and interns under 18.
- Occupational safety for associations and clubs: A related business type, also with conferences and a changing cast of people.
Legal basis
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- DGUV Regulation 3 (electrical installations and equipment)
Frequently asked questions
Which employers' liability insurance association covers private education providers?
Usually the Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG). Its statutes name private schools and universities, adult education centres and other educational institutions. Providers that train people for nursing, health or social care professions generally fall under the BGW, and institutions run by a municipality under the Unfallkasse. Your membership notice is binding.
Do freelance lecturers count towards our headcount?
Not for support hours under DGUV Regulation 2. There the VBG counts the institution's own staff and the participants in programmes under the Vocational Training Act. The risk assessment and safety training are a different matter: freelance lecturers who are integrated into the organisation like employees count as employees under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Emergency planning has to include them either way.
Are participants in further training or retraining insured through the education provider?
That depends on who sends them. Learners in vocational training and further training are usually insured through the provider's accident insurance institution. Anyone sent by their own employer, for example in a joint training scheme, or by a rehabilitation provider remains insured through that body. The provider has occupational safety duties in both cases, and for programmes under the Vocational Training Act it is the employer under occupational safety law.
Other business types
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